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2MHost, I have the same problem every so often, and unfortunately, I have been taken once by a designer in the the past, but that is only 1 time in over 70 contests I have run. I chalk it up to the cost of doing business I'm afraid. Often it comes down to good and timely communication, but it still sucks when it happens.

this is an age old debate, that I've always thought had it's good side and it's bad side.

The bad side having a few cons. 1, the guy who wrote this article seems to own an ad agency or web firm, and I don't really think he should be "farming" out his clients to "contests". If I were one of his clients and learned that he put up my site as some sort of 400 dollar "contest" when he charged me probably a grand, I'd feel pretty cheated. Just the fact that he doesn't seem to have the skills to take on projects on his own, and the fact he thought so little of my project to cheapen it by making it a contest is a little slimy.

But that being said I always thought that most of the people who post these "contests" didn't have the budget for a professional solution in the first place. Most of them just want a brochure site that has a somewhat professional air to it without paying the high premiums of ad agencies. Most of them know that very few true "professionals" will enter these things and adjust their expectations accordingly. I never thought that these "contests" ever really took work from the professionals out there because most of the time we'd turn them down becase 1) their budgets would be so low and 2) they weren't serious enough about their business that they would seek out true professionals.

But I do think it's a perfect way for up and comers to get their feet wet in the design world. They get some experience dealing with real "clients" and get real projects that they can try their hand at. I know when I first started out I entered many, and learned a lot along the way. If you're just out of school or still in school, you have a real world way to get some experience and even earn a little cash in the process. It lets you see what other designers are doing, how they tackle real world projects ( as minor as they may be) and it provides a great environment to learn.

Even as a "professional" nowadays I occasionally "enter" one of these to try out a new design, or expand my skill set or portfolio. If I have some downtime between projects, and just want to have my choice of a type of project, this is a nice little diversion.

All that being said these types of sites will never replace a true ad agency/design firm that will truly create a tailored solution fo ryour business. Someone who does the market research, is generally interested in your company and making it succeed as opposed to created a 2 page template and pushing you out the door. I do think these types of sites have their place in the design world, and I've had clients that have tried these, but paid the premium for the taylored service and the reliabilty of an available freelancer or agency.